Joshua 24:31 – “And Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who knew all the work of Yahweh which He had done for Israel.”

Judges 2:7 – “And the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who saw all the great work of Yahweh which He had done for Israel.”

As I read, prayed, pondered, and meditated today, I was reminded of an inescapable truth: a personal relationship with God is required.  The same is revealed and repeated at the close of the Book of Joshua and the beginning of Judges.

In Joshua 24:31 and Judges 2:7, we read that Israel served God as long as Joshua and the elders who had seen God’s works lived. When the eyewitnesses died, faith and faithfulness died, too.  Judges 2:19 tells us that when the judges died, Israel became even more corrupt.  A personal relationship is the key to faithfulness and victory.   

In Mark 13:5, Jesus said, “Be careful that no man deceive you…”   Without a deep, abiding personal relationship with God, we are easy targets for deception. Deception caters to the flesh, the person’s desires, the need for ease, and the absolving of responsibility.   

When we know God personally and intimately, we readily recognize the Real, the imitation, and the counterfeit.   Christianity is not easy Unless we live (Christ in us and in Oneness with Him), abiding in the vine.  Too often, Christians live theoretical lives, not lives of practical application of God’s principles and promises.

We believe the Bible is God’s Word but find it challenging to make it practicable in everyday life.   We believe in salvation, but even that is futuristic.   We live with doubt and uncertainty because we do not know God intimately and personally.  We know about Him, but His Promises are theoretical, futuristic, or for super saints.

If we know Him intimately, we know He Does Not Lie!  We live in union with the impossible being possible All the Time!   We cannot depend on what someone else saw, heard, or experienced.  It is Individual and Personal!

He invites us to an in-depth personal relationship.   Make Him most essential and refuse to doubt.  He is I AM! His life is your life.   Be the one who keeps faith alive for others so they can keep faith alive after you.   Christ is IN us, and we are ONE with Him.  Let us live like He is truthful because He is!

Victory is your hope today!  You are IN Him, and He is IN you, enabling you to live above the Impossible!   Enjoy the victory He has invited you to live in!